The field of the disclosure relates generally to sutures and, more specifically, to enhancing suture repair mechanics using adhesives.
While there have been many improvements in suture materials and knot tying techniques since sutures were first used, the core technology of sewing tissues together remains a crude mechanical solution. Sutures are typically in pure tension along most of their length, with this tension transferred to the tissue only at anchor points. High stress concentrations at these anchor points can lead to sutures breaking or cutting through the surrounding tissue, similar to a wire cutting through cheese. This limits the maximum force that can be transferred across the suture repair.
Many surgical repairs, including, but not limited to, orthopaedic repairs (e.g., tendon and ligament repair) demand strong biomechanical resilience to accommodate activities of daily living without risking rupture. For example, repair site elongation and rupture remain problematic after flexor tendon repairs even with modern suturing and rehabilitation protocols. Rotator cuff repairs, which require reattachment of materials with disparate mechanical properties (tendon and bone), have alarmingly high failure rates. Improved suturing schemes would allow for greater loads across the repair site, reducing rupture and gap formation between the repaired tissues.
Traditional sutures transfer load to and from surrounding tissue/material predominantly at anchor points where they bend within the tissue. High stress concentrations at these anchor points can lead to sutures breaking or cutting through the surrounding tissue, similar to a wire cutting through cheese.
This limits the maximum force that can be transferred across the repair. Traditional sutures have a relatively large surface area passing through tissue (or other substrate being sewn together) that is not utilized for load transfer. Thus, a need remains in the art for a modified suture with an adsorbed or covalently bound adhesive that binds collagen along the suture's length, thereby reducing stress concentrations and better distributing load.